Alaska, day 3

The day of the boat tour.

I was nervous for this day, but google said it was worth it.  I got a prescription sea sickness patch for the first time, just for this excursion. 

We were lucky enough to be in Alaska for their few days of summer, but weren't so much prepared to be hot.  I dug out the only t-shirt I brought for the beginning, but it didn't take long once we got out on the water to get cold.  We were thankful for the clear weather and sunny skies for a day of looking for animals.

6 hours sounded so long when we booked it, but the time flew by!  I think we saw more wildlife than usual and I was not complaining in the least.  We followed 3 humpback whales for awhile...I could have watched them all day.

p.s. thank you Ben for taking such amazing pictures for us.

Another highlight for me was seeing otters.  We even saw a mama carrying a baby on her tummy.

I believe this is where we saw the bald eagle...or sheep.

We made it to the glacier and I was shivering!

We sat here for awhile just watching the snow break off and listening for the crash into the water.

Then they served "glacier margaritas" which I think really was gatorade, but it was still fun.

On our way back, we saw seals (they're on the rock, but blend in)

and puffin

and more humpback whales.

And this is me celebrating that I made it through the cruise without getting seasick!  Thank you to whoever invented those patches!

 

Alaska, day 2

We started the day here:

We hiked the Harding Icefield Trail as far as we could, until the snow became to deep.

I loved how the waterfalls were abounding this time of year.

Best picture of the trip:

Then we did the little hike at Exit Glacier.

Here's the video Ben made of our hike:

Just documenting the first time that Ben has EVER pulled over to take a picture.  I lost count how many times he said, "Yep, I could live here."

We had dinner at the Cookery.  For having just a few restaurants, Seward knows how to do food!  Everything was delicious!

That evening, Ben got some really cool pictures of Seward from his drone.

 

Alaska, day 1

We squeezed into our car and drove 2 hours south, to Cooper Landing.  Pictures do not do the beauty of Alaska justice.  We saw a moose and dall sheep on the drive and I still regret not stopping to watch the moose.  

We were some of the first people to get to camp, which was our goal so the boys could pick their bunks first.

Camp is on Kenai Lake and has stunning scenery all around.

These are the cabins the boys stayed in.

They jumped right into playing with other kids and we left them to have a fun filled few days.

We had some time to kill before we could get into our Airbnb, so we got lunch and found a hike.  We went to Chugach National Forest and hiked Russian River Falls.  We were too early to see the salmon run, which was slightly disappointing, but I was also okay with not running into a bear.

Our Airbnb was in Seward, a small town on the Kenai Peninsula.  This 100 year old building was recently converted into small apartments and while it was a really cute spot, there was not a single level surface in the building.  Our suitcase would literally roll down the kitchen!  But the location was great and we were able to walk all around the little town.

We had dinner at the Flamingo Lounge and got fancy drinks while sitting in little pink chairs.  We felt like we were back in NYC and the food was delicious.

We walked around after dinner and enjoyed our little bit of "normal" Alaska weather.  This was the only day that it was cloudy and rainy.  We were actually hot most of the trip!

 

Trip to Alaska!

The boys were accepted to go to Operation Purple Camp in Coopers Landing, Alaska.  It's similar to the surf camp that Colin went to last year; free for military kids but there's only a handful of slots.  When the boys heard of the opportunity to go Alaska, they said it sounded epic and we jumped on the opportunity for Eli to also go to camp before he's too old.

We flew into Anchorage and picked up our rental car...which was not the size we were expecting.  I was impressed we fit what we did in our 5 bags, but our car disagreed.

After a long day of travel, we found a yummy burger place. 

We checked into our hotel and then walked to get some ice cream.  Colin had a headache and was ready to go to bed...it doesn't look like bedtime, but it was about 9pm here and this place was hoppin'!  Apparently Alaskans take their ice cream very seriously, especially on the first warm day.